A North Dakota college football player believes he has been treated unfairly after he claims he was dismissed from his team after being witnessed kissing his much-older boyfriend.

Attending North Dakota State College of Sciences, Jamie Kuntz, aged 18, explained that he and his 65-year-old boyfriend were in the press box videotaping a game for his team, the Wildcats, when "the kiss just happened", he said.

The college acknowledges Kuntz was disciplined by the team, but says it was not because he is gay. The football coach, Chuck Parsons, told the linebacker in a letter that he was removed from the team for lying about the kiss.

Kuntz, who is on a partial football scholarship, left the college in south-eastern North Dakota this month after his dismissal from the team. "Football didn't work out, so there was no reason to stay," Kuntz said. "People around here aren't exposed to it," he said of homosexuality. "People expect gays to be flamboyant, not football players."

A team-mate had apparently seen the kiss and told coaches, Kuntz said. When Parsons confronted the player, he told him the man he kissed was his grandfather. "I lied," admitted Kuntz and later said he consequently felt guilty and came clean to the coach.

He was sent a dismissal letter citing "conduct deemed detrimental to the team" and specifically noting the issue of "lying to coaches, teachers or other school staff".

However Kuntz does not believe he was dismissed just for lying. "I know if it was a girl in the press box, or even an older woman, nothing would have happened," he said. "If it was an older woman, I would have probably been congratulated for it from my team-mates."

School officials said that they were investigating whether this was the first such instance of someone being kicked off the football team for lying.

The player said he told his mother that he was gay at the same time he told her he was kicked off the team. "I'm struggling with it," said Rita Kuntz. "I love Jamie and I'm proud of him, but I know what the school did was wrong."

His mother added that she he has accepted that her son is gay, but she believes he was taken advantage of by his boyfriend, who is more than three times her son's age.

Her son revealed he is determined not to give up and may pursue football as a walk-on at another university outside North Dakota. "I miss it already," he said.